Lee Ann Reinert
Speaker, LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF ILLINOIS, ISSUES BRIEFING 2022
Lee Ann Reinert, LCSW, serves as Deputy Director of Policy, Planning and Innovation for the Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Mental Health. Her responsibilities include development and implementation of strategic initiatives and the policies supporting these, including pursuit and implementation of federal grant activities; revision of administrative rules and guidelines; development, revision and implementation of tools designed to measure community agencies’ performance and treatment outcomes; service development and implementation of evidence based practices.
Reinert has served as the Principal Investigator for various federal grants awarded to the Division and is also the Mental Health Block Grant Planner for the State of Illinois. Most recently, she led the state’s 988 implementation planning grant awarded by Vibrant in February, 2021. She has represented the Division on interagency initiatives at the State and National level, and currently is leading the state’s efforts on expansion of the crisis continuum, including 988 planning and implementation.
She holds both an MSW and a BS in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker since 1997, and also holds licensure as a Sponsor of Continuing Education for Social Workers, Counselors, Nurses and Nursing Home Administrators. Her combined 32 years of mental health experience spans administrative, community and inpatient settings in a variety of areas including services to adults diagnosed with serious mental illnesses, crisis intervention services across the lifespan, and individual and group therapy, as well as working as a unit social worker, clinical director and admissions coordinator in a state-operated psychiatric hospital.